Sarah Sauvayre is a category 2 and races for Comedy Central and has been in CRCA since 1997. Her husband, Pascal, began racing and convinced her to get into it after a long running career. I recently met with Sarah and discussed the women’s racing scene both in the CRCA and out of town, over a splendid lunch at the bike-friendly restaurant, Henry’s (2745 Broadway at 105^th Street)

FBF Time Trial, June 3^rd 2007

O’M: How did you get into bike racing?
SS: My husband Pascal’s grandfather lived in Herbignac in Brittany, France. Pascal grew up spending summers in Brittany and around cycling. He knew cycling. I first met him playing soccer. It was intimidating at first when I decided to race. I got dropped every week, back in 1997. But the guys in the club were very encouraging. I barely knew how the bike worked. Pascal taught me a lot about fixing thing, changing flats. Shifting gears was mysterious to me at the beginning. I used to ask myself, “Am I sprinting on the hoods or in the drops?”

O’M: Where in the US are you from?
SS: From a town in New Jersey, Bernardsville about twenty minutes from Somerville. I moved to New York in 1984.

O’M: Did you go to college locally?
SS: I went to Harvard and studied English.

O’M: Who are some of your favorite writers?
SS: Dickens. Joan Didion.

O’M: And from the modern era?
SS: Tim Krabbe, a Dutch writer. He’s very famous in Holland and writes plays and novels. He wrote an amazing book about a bike race called “The Rider.”

O’M: How do you manage to balance family, work, training, racing and life in general?
SS: It’s hard. I almost never have time just to be alone. WE don’t party and don’t sleep enough. WE drag OUR kids and nanny to most of the races. In 2001, Fitchburg, Pat [nanny from Trinidad] and the kids were standing cheering for me. Pat’s been with us thirteen years now.

O’M: How’d you do with your fan club cheering?
SS: Fourth as a cat 3 and QOM (Queen of the Mountains) in GC.

O’M: How has the CRCA women’s field changed over the past ten years or so?
SS: I’m one of the geezers in the CRCA women’s. In the last race I think there were thirty-five of us at the line. When I first started racing, unless there were ten at the line it folded into the men’s C field.

It’s exciting to see new women coming into the club, like Ashley Prine, who’s really talented and getting better at every race she does. I wish I had more time for the club, and I hope to be able to do more in the future. We all get a lot out of the CRCA, and most of the heavy lifting is done by a small group of people.

O’M: What inspires you about bike racing and training?
SS: It’s an escape, and mastery of something makes me feel good, like I’m getting better all the time. I’m making small incremental changes, like position in the pack, cornering and being wind smart. There is an intellectual side to cycling that is incredibly compelling. And race post-mortems, “what if I did this or that differently?”

O’M: You work for Conde Nast on the online side of the publications, right?
SS: Yes, I’ve been there sixteen years and have worked on several of their magazines. Now I run the online division.

Philly, 2004

O’M: What do your work colleagues think of this bike racing business?
SS: It’s hard to explain to people who aren’t in it. In my group, the internet division, there are a lot of young athletic people, so they understand a little and are very supportive. My magazine company colleagues think it’s a little weird. Last year most of my team knew I was in the Masters Nationals and were encouraging me. My old Zipp wheels are sitting in my office. They cracked at Mengoni last year. The park was full of potholes and water, the rear one cracked at the valve.

There are actually some bike racers in my group who really know and understand, like Kimani Nelson of Southafrica.net and Andrew Babaian of Avenue A-Razorfish, who works with us as a consultant.

O’M: You came first in the ESG qualifier on Saturday last. Tell me what the other younger ladies thought about getting beaten by you?
SS: They probably thought, oh dear god when is that old bat finally going to retire? Or, wow this is a long race; when can I go get some coffee?

O’M: Regarding time trials, do you have any advice for would be TTer’s?
SS: In all seriousness, my advice would be to really work at TT’ing a lot if they want to be good at it. I have not been able to spend any time on my TT’ing, and it shows. Every time I race a TT my prevailing thought afterwards is that I wish I had spent some time preparing. My best Central Park TT times (which weren’t all that good but they were my best…) came when I first started and had been spending a lot of time as a competitive runner. In running you find where your “red line” is and you race right on or just over it….kind of like a TT.

O’M: You have two daughters. Do you encourage them to take up cycling or are they interested in other sports?
SS: Our girls are both very athletic, and we hope they will love sports all their lives as we both have, but we have been very hands-off as far as pushing specific sports. We ride together and play a very heated and somewhat rough 2-on-2 family soccer almost every weekend. Our older daughter Sophie is 13 and a very fast runner. As of April, when we decided to really see how fast she was, she officially became the fastest 100-meter runner in the house (a title that was mine for many years). She kicked my ass, laughed, and then did the same thing to Pascal. We are just a little bit competitive at our house…

O’M: I know many newer women racers are inspired by your attitude to training and racing and the fact that you get results. Do you have any advice for women thinking about getting into racing or those new to racing? How can they get over their fears of going beyond the pain barrier?
SS: I think the first question a new racer needs to answer for herself is why she wants to race. It’s worth thinking about: “What do I want out of racing, and how badly do I want it?” whatever “it” is, if you want it really badly you don’t feel the pain in quite the same way. To use my own experience as an example, I love to compete, and I love to feel strong, so I’m motivated in my training, even in the winter when I’m indoors on a trainer for hours at a time. I have had to recognize and really work on my weaknesses, which is an ongoing effort. After a bad crash a few years ago I was afraid of fast descents. For a few races in a row I missed the winning field split because I had fallen to the back on the descent, and I got really mad at myself. I started doing hill repeats on River Road just so that I could see how far I could take the descent without touching my brakes. I hated every minute of it but it helped a little.

O’M: Are there any similarities between life and cycling? Especially in hilly races that require determination and pure will power?
SS: One of the cool things about having kids is watching them figure things out. Pascal has been having a conversation recently with our 9-year-old, Emilie, about learning how to fail at things. It came up in the context of sports, but of course it applies to everything. She’s working her way through the idea for really the first time, and we have plenty examples for her of how the process continues through life….my spring Bear Mountain race is a good one! In bike racing you finish a race and within minutes you have thought of what you could have done differently and what you will do differently next time, dammit! It’s not a bad idea to try the same approach with off-bike experiences; I wish I remembered to do that more often.

O’M: Who as an athlete inspires you, male or female?
SS: One of my favorite athletes of all time was Steffi Graf. I still remember getting choked up when I saw her on the cover of Sports Illustrated (a woman on the cover!?!) when she won the Grand Slam. She was a phenomenal talent as an athlete: she had beautiful technique and touch and she could move and run better than most men. And not a diva, which I appreciate even more now that she has retired.

When I was in high school I was a 100- and 200-meter runner, and I loved Evelyn Ashford. She was very humble, she worked really hard, and she was fast as hell.

O’M: Are you put off by all the doping going on in pro cycling? Can there be a house cleaning before the 2007 Tour de France?
SS: I don’t think there’s time to do a house cleaning before this year’s Tour, and I am sadly not at all excited about watching it this year as a result. I like to be able to root for someone, and too many (or all?) of the riders I rooted for in the past have turned out to be dopers. And if they did do a housecleaning, who would be left to ride?

O’M: What can cyclists do to ensure the NYPD ease up on ticketing in the park?
SS: Wow, this one I have no answer for!

O’M: Would you resist any laws drafted requiring a biker to register his or her bike with the City? Or require all cyclists to procure a license?
SS: I’ve been trying to ignore the rumblings I’ve heard about those initiatives. I think they would be very difficult to pass, and the idea of making it more onerous to ride a bike in the city makes me crazy. The administration should be doing everything possible to make it easier to ride here—which is why I love the congestion pricing idea.

O’M: You will be representing New York City in the Empire State Games. Is this your first time at the ESG? How do you hope to do?
SS: I am not able to go to the ESG, actually. I have to pick and choose my travel races because of work and kid activities and life in general. Pascal and I are going to Masters’ Nationals in a few weeks, though.

O’M: Thanks so much for your time.
SS: And thank you.